02-16-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - There is an old saying about “not being able to throw it in the ocean if you were standing on the beach.”

It refers to an inability to make shots in a basketball game.

At any level of this sport, hitting just 27 percent from the field will most likely get you beat.

The ball seldom got “wet” from the sand on this night for the hosts.

The Webber Township Trojans were just that “dry” offensively on Tuesday night, falling to Patoka 46-42 in a non-conference battle.

Connecting on just 13-of-48 overall and a very bad 2-of-20 from beyond the arc, Coach Brad Beaty's club fell to 16-8 on the season.

For the Patoka Warriors, they also had some offensive issues on the night, but they did a much better job overcoming their own offensive errors to improve to 19-10 on the season.

Coach Joe Eddy saw his club commit 13-turnovers but they managed to keep Webber Township off the offensive boards in the second half of the victory.

The Trojans got only two offensive rebounds in the final 16 minutes, and as bad as their shooting was on the night, they could have used some additional chances.

In the first meeting between the two clubs back on December 18 during the Wayne City Holiday Tournament, Webber nailed nine 3-pointers in a 70-68 win.

Coach Eddy felt like they gave up too many easy shots from beyond the arc so he made sure to remind his squad that they needed to get a hand up on the outside shooters while in their zone defense.

The strategy obviously worked as the Trojans didn't fair well from the outside as the Warriors were much better defensively on Tuesday night as they picked up the victory.

“I told the guys, at Wayne City (the loss to Webber) we didn't get a hand up in their face. Our goal tonight was to let them shoot it but we needed to get closer to them,” said Coach Eddy. “We wanted to keep them out of the middle because the Neal kid finishes so well. Our turnovers tonight were mostly unforced, trying to do too much. We have been that way most of the year. We can beat anybody and we can lose to anybody, but usually be beat ourselves with unforced errors.”

Despite the offensive dilemma for Webber, they were still in the contest up until the final moments.

However Patoka managed to hang onto a lead in the fourth quarter for the triumph on the road.

Six-foot-one junior guard Jered Cain led the Warriors with 22-points while senior forward Dylan Back stepped up big in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of his 12-points in the final minutes of the low scoring affair.

Back nailed a pair of early shots in the fourth, including a 3-pointer from the left corner that gave Patoka its largest lead of the night at 36-29.

Webber had several chances to get the win, and they stayed close in the fourth quarter by hitting seven straight free throws.

Charles Neal, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward, topped the Trojans with 17-points and seven-rebounds.

He hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minutes, but unfortunately during this stretch Webber Township was just 2-of-10 from the field.

Trailing 44-42 with :35 left, Webber got the ball back after Cain missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Following a timeout, the Trojans tried to work the ball for a good shot but they ended up settling for a long 25-footer from Neal from the left wing.

Neal's shot caromed off of the rim and Back grabbed the rebound and was fouled with :00.5 remaining.

The senior closed out the game from the foul line, nailing the door shut with two free throws to make the final a four-point margin.

Besides Neal, Webber didn't put a player in double-digits in scoring.

Senior Ryan Johnson netted nine-points while classmate Corey Hammer added six.

Five-points apiece came from junior Jaxon Helm and sophomore Dylan Stratton.

“I thought defensively we had good stretches tonight but offensively we struggled big-time. When you have two good teams getting after each other defensively it comes down to who is going to put the ball in the basket and we just weren't that team tonight,” said Coach Beaty. “It's like I told the kids, I'm not too worried about wins and losses in these last two games coming up, I would love to win these games but we have to get ourselves ready for next week (state tournament) because I really think we can make a run. But we have to get better. We got stagnant tonight offensively. Tonight when we were getting turnovers defensively we were getting scores in transition but in our halfcourt offense we struggled.”

For the Warriors 6-foot-5 junior Garrett Belcher tossed in six-points while junior Jordan Cobb added six as well.

Cobb got his points in the first half on the inside as the 6-foot-4 forward helped get the Warriors going early.

When Cain wasn't scoring he was finding teammates for scores.

Cain found Cobb in the lane in the early going for a 4-1 lead while scoring three baskets himself in the quarter.

Back-to-back scores on penetrations to the goal gave Patoka an 11-10 lead.

Neal also got going early, converting a three-point play while being fouled by Cobb and then closing the frame with drive in the lane for a 12-11 advantage after one period of play.

Cobb and Neal each scored four-points for their teams in the second quarter, which ended at 21-21.

Despite being just 8-of-29 from the field in the opening half, Webber was even with the Warriors at the break.

Webber missed six more 3-point attempts in the third quarter, a factor that usually would spell doom on most nights.

But Patoka didn't pull away.

Cain padded his stats with a pair of scores and 2-of-2 from the foul line while Helm, Hammer and Johnson each scored on drives to the basket.

When Stratton hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the quarter, Webber trailed just 31-29.

Back scored those five early points in the final stanza and Cain did the rest, hitting 6-of-7 from the foul line.

Webber was within one possession on four trips down the floor in the final 2:31 after Helm hit his only 3-pointer of the game to cut the margin to just 42-40.

However this mattered little as Coach Beaty's team continued to struggle shooting the ball.

Patoka avenged its earlier defeat at the hands of Webber by hitting a better percentage from the floor (43.2 percent) on 16-of-37 shooting.

They also out-rebounded the Trojans 30-24 on the night.

The Warriors also were effective spreading the floor and running the clock, especially in the second half.

“We have discovered in the last few weeks that we are good enough handling the ball that we can basically spread the floor, go kind of a four-corners offense. Most of the teams we play are not guarding one or two of our players, they are concentrating on Belcher and Cain. So we have just decided that they are going guard them, we are going to pull them outside and if they don't come out then we are just going to hold it and run the clock out. I thought we played very much under control tonight and that is also something we have struggled with. We were patient with the ball tonight and we got the ball to the right guys to make the right decisions with the ball tonight.”

Webber heads back into action Wednesday night as they travel to Grayville in a make up game from a postponement from last Friday night.

They close the regular season hosting Cisne on Friday night.

Patoka will play host to Dieterich on Friday night in the regular season finale.

“Patoka is a good team and there is a good chance you can get beat by a good team if you don't shoot the ball well and that is what happened tonight,” said Coach Beaty. “We will bounce back and head to Grayville tomorrow night.”

Patoka (46) – S. Cain 0 0 0-0 0, Belcher 3 0 0-1 6, O'Brien 0 0 0-2 0, J. Cain 7 0 8-9 22, Cobb 3 0 0-2 6, Dy. Back 2 2-2 12.
2FG-14, 3FG-2, FT-10-16, PF-14.
Webber Township (42) – Johnson 3 0 3-4 9, Neal 4 0 9-11 17, Hammer 3 0 0-2 6, Helm 1 1 0-0 5, Stratton 0 1 2-2 5, Hart 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-14-19, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.